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prolects which document the develop-ment of desig ners' ideas. Aitention ispaid to the process of creating innovativesolutions in thefield of type design andtypography, often engaging experimentalprocesses as a meansto approach

An experiment in this sense has nopreconceived ideaofthe outcome; ii onlysets out to determine a cause-and-effectrelationship. As such, experimeniationis a method ofworking which iscontraryto production-oriented design, wherethe aim of the process is not to createsomething new, butio achievean alreadyknown, preJormulated result.

Belgian designer Brecht cuppens hascreated Sprawl, an experimental type-face based on cartography, whichtakesinto account the density ofpopulation inBelgium. ln Sprawl, the silhouette of eachletter is identical, solhatwhen tYped,they lock into each other Thefilling of theletlers, however, varies according iolhefrequencyof use of the letter in the Dutchlanguage- The mostfrequently used letter(e) represents the highest density of pop-ulation. The most infrequently used letter(q) corresponds to the lowst density.SettinqasampletextcreatesaCuppensrepresentation of the Belgian landscape.

Another example ofexperimentas aprocess of creaiion without anticipation ofthe fixed result is an online project. Ortho-type trio ofauthors Enrico Bravi, MikkelCrone Koser, and Paolo Palma describeoriho-type as 'an exercise in perception,a stimulusforthe mind and the eye topick out and process thre-dimensionalplanes on a flat surface,,.," Ortho-typeis an online application of a typefacedesigned to be recognizable in threedimensions. lneachview,lheviewercanset any of the available variables:length,breadth, depth, thickness, colour, androtation, and generate multiple variationsof the model- The usercan alsogeneFate those varialions as a traditional2DPostscriptfont.

Although this kind ofexperimentalprocess has no commercial application,ils resulls may feed other experimentsand b adapted to commercial activi-ties. Once assimilalod, the product is nolonger experimental. David Carson mayhave started his formal oxperiments out ofcuriosity, but now sim ilar formal solutionshave been adapted by commercial giantssuch as Nike, Pepsi, orSony.

Following this line, we can gofurtherto suggest thai nocompleted projectcanbe seriously considered experimental.It is experimental on ly in the process

ofits creation. When completed itonlybecomes part of the body of work whichit was meant to challenge. As soon as theexperiment achieves its finalform, it canbe named, categorized, and analyzedaccording to any conventional system ofclassif icalion and referencing.

An experimental tech n ique wh ichsfrequenily used isto bring togelhervarious working methods that are rec-oqnized separately but rarely combined.Forexample, language is studied sys-temalically by iinguists, who are chieflyrnterested in spoken languages and inthe problems ofanalyzing them aslheyoperate at a given point in time. Linguislsrarely, however, venture intothe visiblerepresenlation of language, because theyconsider it artilicialand thus secondaryto spoken language. Typographers, onthe other hand, are concerned withtheappearance of type in print and other re-production technologies; they often havesubstantial knowledge of composition,color theories, proportions, paper, etc.,yet often lack knowledge ofthe languagewhich they represent.

These contrasting inlerests arebroug ht together in the work of Pierre diSciullo, a French designerwho pursueshistypographic research in a wide varietyof media. Histypeface Sint6tik reducesthe letters of the French alphabet to thecore phonemes (sounds which distinguishone word from another)and compressesitto sixteen characters- Di Sciullo stressesthe economic aspect ofsuch a system,with an average book being reduced byabout 30 percent when multiple spellingsof the same sound are made redundant.Forexample, the French words for skin(peaux) and pot (pot) are bolh reducedto the simplest representation of theirpronunciation-po. Words set in Sint6tikcan be understood onlywhen read aloud,returning the readerio the medievalexpe-

ence of oral reading,Quantange s anotherfont specific to

the French language. lt is basically a pho-netic alphabet which visually suggeststhe pronuncialion, rhythm, and pace ofreading. Every letterin Ouanlange hasas many different shapes as ihere areways of pronouncing itrthe,etierc, forexample, has hi/o forms because it canbe pronounced ass ork, DiSciullo suq-geststhat Quantange would be particu-larly useful to foreign students of Frenchorto actors and presenters who need toarticulatethe infleclional aspect of lan-guage not indicated by traditional scripls.This project buildson experiments ofearly avant-garde designers, ihe work

of the Bauhaus, KurtSchwitters, andJan Tschichold.

Di Sciullo took inspiration from ihereading processwhen he designed alypeface for setting the horizontalpal-indromes of Georges Perec (Perec haswritten the longest palindrome on record,a poem of l,388wordsthai can be readboth ways (see httpr//graner.nei/nicolas/salocin/ten.renarg//:ptlh). The typefaceis acombination of loweF and uppercaseand is designed to be read from bothsides,left and right. (This is great newstoevery 8ob, Hannah, or Eve. ) Oi Sciullo'stypefaces are very playfu and theirpracti-calaspectsare limited, yet likethe otherpresenled exam ples of experiments intypography, his works pointsto previ-ously unexplored areas of interest whichenlarge our understanding ofthe field.

Although most of the examples shownhere are marked by the recent shift ofinterest ofEuropean graphic design fromforms to ideas, and the besl examplescombine boih, there is no definitive expla-nation ofwhat constilutes an experimentin typography. Aslhe profession developsand more people practicethis subtle art,wecontinually redefine the purpose ofexperimentalion and become aware of itsmoving boundaries. X

Conceptual Typ6?To begin with, let's beclearthat concep-tualtype is an oxymoron, A typeface can treally be conceptual, because it is depen-denton itsexecution- Typeface design is acraft, so the process that transforms thepure idea inlo a functionalfont isacriticalpart of the discipline. Before the typefaceisexecuted, it is notatypeface;it issim-ply an idea. Afew years back lwas padofthejury at an art school in Antwerp,where a student proposed a conceptualfont. lnstead ofdefining the shapes, hecame with a set ofwritien instructions. sothe capitalFwas delined as "lhree evenlyspaced horizontal lines crossing oneverticalline," ltwas fun and veryclever,buttechnically it was merely a description(howeverw tty)oflhe alphabet, not afont, which is based on the repetition

SolLewitt's famous quote 'banalideas cannot be rescued by beautifulexecution" does notapplyto type design.There are plenty of examples of nicelydesigned and successfu lly exploited type-faces based on banal models. Nowhereelse is revivalism as popularas in typedesign, and recycled versions of provenmodels seem to form the core of mosttype libraries. Forexample, how many

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E lrlm.ntal tpoebphv. whad.r $.1n6n1 /coneptutr tvD'?

I settled on a series of srif typefacesdesigned by Giambattista Bodoniin thelate eighteenth century

ln the second step, I tied to identify theugliest examples of type that we know.That was a bit more difficult, butfinallythe prize wentto eccentric ltalian from themiddle ofthe lndustrial Revolution. Thisreversed-contrast typeface was designedto deliberately attracl readrs atlentionby defying their expectations. Strokesthat were thick in classicalmodels werethin, and strokes that were thin becamethick-a dirtytricklo make freakish lettersthat stand out in the increasing ly satu_rated world of commercial mossages.

This project is not interesting becauseoftheforms, which have been exploredbefore, but because it creates a tight linkbetween the two extremes, between lhebeauty and the ugliness. Time willtellifthis projectfinds some suitable applica-tion, orwhether it remains purelyanaesthetic exercise, a "conceplual" iyp6. E

Adaptd lrom a elu@ prsnted al the .sfeEnceConeptual Type Type L.d by lds in Copenhagen,

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